The New York Times takes on Mars Hill Church

In case you missed it … The New York Times wrote a long, lively profile Sunday of Seattle’s version of big-crowd evangelicalism, Mars Hill Church.

Mark Driscoll, one of the pastors at the Mars Hill megachurch, is the subject of a New York Times megaprofile. (Niki Desautels/Seattle P-I)

“This is Seattle, and Mars Hill epitomizes the church that spawned it,” wrote the Times’ Molly Worthen. The church has seven campuses in Seattle and draws about 7,600 visitors each Sunday.

Worthen began with the man who carries Mars Hill’s soul — pastor Mark Driscoll. Considering that religion rides into the future on the spirit of the young, this is the key graf:

At a time when the once-vaunted unity of the religious right has eroded and the mainstream media is proclaiming an “evangelical crackup,” Driscoll represents a movement to revamp the style and substance of evangelicalism. With his taste for vintage baseball caps and omnipresence on Facebook and iTunes, Driscoll, who is 38, is on the cutting edge of American pop culture. Yet his message seems radically unfashionable, even un-American: you are not captain of your soul or master of your fate but a depraved worm whose hard work and good deeds will get you nowhere, because God marked you for heaven or condemned you to hell before the beginning of time. Yet a significant number of young people in Seattle — and nationwide — say this is exactly what they want to hear. Calvinism has somehow become cool, and just as startling, this generally bookish creed has fused with a macho ethos. At Mars Hill, members say their favorite movie isn’t “Amazing Grace” or “The Chronicles of Narnia” — it’s “Fight Club.”

Update: Ken Shepherd, managing editor of Newsbusters, the conservative media watchdog site, offers a thoughtful critique of the Times’ portrayal of Driscoll’s theology, arguing that Worthen “does little to distinguish Calvinism from fatalism.” No matter what your politics, the post is worth a read at least as a counterpoint to the Times’ take. Check it out here.